Attorney Ryder rebuts those who say he influences commissioners in redistricting role

Attorney John L. Ryder -- at his Downtown law office -- has played a low-key role in the Shelby County Commission's efforts to draw new districts.

Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal

John L. Ryder is a Republican attorney who is nationally recognized for helping members of his party draw new voting districts that boost their political power. He has also played a quiet role in the Shelby County Commission's efforts to draw new districts.

Commissioners such as Democrat Walter Bailey and Republican Terry Roland argue that Ryder steered some Republican commissioners away from a consensus plan and helped create an ongoing standoff.

Ryder says that's inaccurate and that he has played a minor role.

"As I've said, commissioners have called and asked me about legal matters, and I've tried to answer those questions," he said.

He said he has spoken about redistricting with both Democratic and Republican commissioners. He wouldn't name names, citing attorney-client privilege, though he acknowledged that he advised Commissioner Brent Taylor. That became public when another commissioner released some e-mails to reporters.

Commissioner Heidi Shafer, a Republican, said she has talked with Ryder, though she declined to say what they spoke about. She rejected the view that he is the man pulling the strings.

"Maybe there's a rumor going around that we're all being manipulated behind the scenes by somebody. But if they are, they're not doing a very good job of it."

Commissioners are using recent census data to draw new district lines for the 2014 commission elections. The process affects the power of political parties, of African-American residents and of the suburbs relative to the city.

However, both of the two main rival factions on the commission have included African-Americans and whites, Republicans and Democrats, and urban and suburban commissioners.

One faction prefers maps with one or two members per district. The other faction prefers a map that's much like the current one: four big districts with three members each and one district with a single member.

Nine of the 13 commissioners had to agree on a plan by Dec. 31, but they missed the deadline. Positions hardened. Last week, one commissioner threatened to hit a colleague, another commissioner moved to censure two others, and yet another commissioner introduced a measure to make it easy to unseat the chairman.

Commissioners seemed to calm down Monday, and more commissioners expressed support for a single-member district plan.

Still, the debate remains divisive. The level of conflict would have been hard to imagine when commissioners first took up redistricting in late October. It appeared the commission would easily approve a map that had six two-member districts and one single-member district.

On first reading, this map got 10 votes. Within weeks, though, the consensus was gone.

Bailey believes the consensus collapsed because Ryder told Republicans not to support the plan.

"And then they backed off when they consulted with John Ryder, as I understand it, and they said that wasn't in the best interest of partisan Republican politics."

Ryder said he hasn't decided which county-level district map is best for Republicans. "I haven't had occasion to look at those (maps) with a partisan view."

Ryder, 62, once ran the county Republican Party and for years played a role in local politics as a campaign manager for the party's top candidates.

His corner office high in a Downtown tower looks out over the Mississippi River. He's a part-time county attorney assigned to the Election Commission and also runs a private law practice, much of which has to do with bankruptcies.

He says he got into the law because it was intellectually interesting and that his libertarian streak drew him to the Republican Party. He is married with two adult daughters, and his hobbies include playing handball and reading books about the period around the time of the American Revolution.

He has worked on redistricting cases for years and is now chairman of the Republican National Committee's redistricting committee, which helps the party advance its interests on all political levels.

A hand-drawn sketch of Shelby County congressional districts was on a legal pad on his desk when a reporter visited recently, and an easel nearby showed brightly colored national-level maps.

He has been involved in Tennessee's state-level redistricting process. The new Republican majority recently approved map changes that will likely result in more Republicans winning seats in the state House and Senate.

Taylor, a Republican commissioner, said he spoke with Ryder about the legality of a compromise proposal that he floated over the holidays. That proposal went nowhere.

Taylor said it's unfair to blame Ryder for commissioners' disagreements. Rather, he said that a key shift took place when Commissioner Mike Ritz moved to amend a consensus map so that all districts would be clearly split between the city of Memphis and the suburbs.

Taylor said he believes this would hurt Republican representation.

Ritz, a Republican, says he supports single-member districts, but that when he gave an impassioned speech in favor of such a plan weeks ago, he was really just bluffing. His hope, he said, was that some commissioners who fear single-member districts would change their minds and support a two-member-per-district plan.

"It completely backfired," Ritz said. He said the result was that it drove additional commissioners to support the map that has four districts with three members each and one district with a single member.

Ritz says he hasn't spoken with Ryder.

Ritz has filed suit along with Bailey and Roland to get a court involved in the issue. A judge has said he wants commissioners to work it out. Monday's relatively calm meeting suggests it's possible, though far from easy.

To put it another way: Though commissioners disagree on who started the fight, the court may have to finish it.